


i love you and that's all i really know

by onelastride



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, a hike, its soft, thats really it just soft jemily, theres a proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-10
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-17 08:21:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29963565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onelastride/pseuds/onelastride
Summary: emily prentiss is hopelessly in love with jennifer jareau, and that's just a fact.
Relationships: Jennifer "JJ" Jareau/Emily Prentiss
Comments: 1
Kudos: 48





	i love you and that's all i really know

Had you told Emily that she would be spending her two weeks off trudging around the Rocky Mountain National Park with her overly excited girlfriend she would have looked at you like you were insane. Yet here she was, trailing several yards behind the blonde as they paced their way up towards Chasm Lake. When Emily found out the blonde had planned a nearly ten-mile hike for them, she could have fainted on the spot. 

_JJ sat perched at the edge of their shared bed in the cabin, hiking guides spread out all around her. The brunette watched as her brows furrowed together and her lips parted slightly as she silently read the names off each different trailhead off. “I want to hike to a lake,” the blonde spoke, “but there are just_ so _many of them I don’t know which to choose.” Emily sniffed slightly and reached for a guide, idly looking it over without much thought, “how does this one sound?” She pointed at a random lake, hoping that it would get the blonde to stop stressing over choosing a hike, and JJ raised an eyebrow. Emily couldn’t help but immediately regret her flippant suggestion when a look of mischief flashed across the blonde’s face._

That brought them to where they are now, an overenthusiastic blonde who would peek over her shoulder to spew out random words of encouragement to a less than chipper brunette. There were moments where Emily felt like her legs were absolutely ready to just give out underneath her, regret etching itself on the features of her face. The only thing that gave her momentary bursts of energy was the happiness that her girlfriend radiated. Babbling on about how beautiful she thought everything was, Emily thought JJ was the most beautiful thing on this trail.

“How much longer, babe?” Emily called out, having paused to drink some water and catch her breath. The other woman paused and walked towards her, “not much longer,” she stated in a sing song voice. She placed a kiss on Emily’s hairline, feeling the sweat that had beaded itself there, “I apologize that you chose a difficult hike for us to do,” she paused, “and that I agreed to it knowing you’d complain the whole time.” “You’re not sorry,” she playfully pushed JJ’s shoulder away before taking her hand in hers, “least you can do is walk next to me for a bit and keep me company.” Her girlfriend hummed slightly, lips pursed together in thought, “I suppose I can.” They fell into a comfortable silence that was only occasionally broken by a bird chirping out a warning at the sight of the pair walking along the trail. 

Eventually the landscaping opened up to reveal a lake that was settled in the mountains. To Emily, she saw just rocks and water but to JJ she saw the world. Blue eyes lit up at the sight and she tugged on Emily’s arm in the same manner a child would, “come on Em, let’s go get a closer look.” The brunette followed behind the younger woman as they stopped by the lake shore, she wiped some sweat off her brow with the back of her hand before sighing, “as I thought. Water.” This time JJ lightly smacked the older woman’s shoulder and furrowed her brow, “appreciate this beauty, Prentiss.” 

Emily rolled her eyes and began to shrug her backpack off, scanning around for some place that could be remotely comfortable for them to sit and still managed to give the blonde a good view of the lake. She landed on a fallen log and a flat rock that was raised ever so slightly. After walking over and setting their items down, she opened the backpack to pull out the water bottles and food that JJ had packed for them to enjoy once they got there. 

The blonde had noticed the absence of her girlfriend and turned around to see where she was setting things up. She couldn’t help the smile that played on her lips as she watched Emily, these were the rare instances that they shared together. No work stress, no nagging co-workers, it was just them and the world. 

Emily sat down on the rock and untwisted the cap to her water bottle but not before motioning for the blonde to come over and join her. She set the bottle down and tossed an apple to JJ who caught it in one hand, “nice arm you got there.” Emily winked, “wouldn’t you like to know.” That comment earned her an eyeroll as her girlfriend bit into the apple, taking a seat next to her. The older woman rolled her apple in her hands for a few minutes, just observing the landscape that had unfolded before them. 

Out of the corner of her eye she saw the blonde undo her ponytail and pull her hair to the side to start braiding it, letting out a grunt of annoyance as the wind made it impossibly hard to do. “Jayje, let me do that for you,” she moved to sit on her knees and work on French braiding the golden locs. JJ closed her eyes and hummed in contentment, “thank you.” She reached for the hair tie that was set on the younger woman’s wrist and fastened it to the end of the braid, sitting back on her heels to admire her work, “I think that’ll suffice.”

More people had arrived and Emily checked her watch to see what time it was to make sure they would still be on time for their dinner reservation. A couple of kids were chasing each other around by the lake shore, their parents sitting off to the side keeping a watchful eye on them. JJ peeled her eyes away from the shrieks of laughter and looked back towards Emily, “we should bring our kids here one day.”

Emily looked up and into blue eyes, “our kids?” It wasn’t like Emily and JJ hadn’t talked about having kids before. They talked about it often if she were to be honest with herself. 

The blonde nodded, “of course, we got to put your braiding expertise to use somewhere,” she reached over and put her hand gently on the brunette’s thigh, leaning her face closer to the older woman, “but I do pray that our kids do not take up your rebellious tendencies.” Before Emily could playfully swat at her the blonde was on her feet and laughing. She looked carefree in that moment, like time slowed down just for them. The older woman couldn’t help but admire the way that her eyes creased ever so slightly as her lips drew up into a smile. Or the way that she swayed on her feet momentarily trying to get her footing stabilized from jumping up so quickly.

And that was the moment that she knew she was going to do it.

Her mind was going over a thousand miles a minute and the racing of her heart only confirmed that. She couldn’t help but stare at her girlfriend as she laughed airily to the blonde, wind billowing soft golden strands around. A smile tugged at her lips whenever JJ would reach up to tuck those loose strands behind her ear, part of her wanting to reach out and do it herself. However, she sat frozen, stuck in place as her nerves did everything but calm themselves. Instead, she opted to just sit and observe the woman that she was hopelessly in love with. The woman who held her tight whenever her mind couldn’t calm itself in those long nights. The woman who looked at her with such love and adoration that made her wonder how she ever got so lucky to land someone like Jennifer Jareau. The woman who was so beautiful and so unaware of the thoughts that were brewing in the brunette’s mind. 

It was now or never, and if Emily didn’t get the courage soon then she wouldn’t know the next time this opportunity would present itself.

Apparently Emily’s staring hadn’t gone unnoticed because JJ was crossing over to where she sat a yard or two away from her, “spill it. What’s going on in your mind?” 

“I’m just wondering how I got so damn lucky,” she flashed a typical smile.

A slight tinge of pink crept onto the blonde’s face as she knelt down in front of the brunette, cupping her cheek ever so gently and pulling her in for a languid kiss. When she pulled back she rested her forehead on Emily’s, and the brunette could have broken down right there. “I brought my camera,” Emily spoke, “go stand by the lake and I’ll see if that young lady over there would be willing to snap a couple of pictures of us.” JJ stood up and nodded, walking towards the lake and fixing her hair just for the wind to whip it out of place once again.

Emily opened up the backpack and pulled out the camera that JJ had bought for her one year on her birthday, saying something about how she wanted to keep good quality pictures of them on her desk. They rarely ever used to, but in this moment she was grateful that they had purchased it. She crossed towards a woman who had her own camera out and was snapping pictures of the landscape around them. Worrying her lip slightly she stopped before the woman, “can I ask you a huge favor? I’ll pay you,” she handed over the bills she had brought with her and the woman agreed much to her delight. 

Then her plan was completely in motion, there was no stopping it now. 

JJ was still facing the lake, occasionally throwing glances back towards Emily as she waited for her to approach. The brunette took a deep breath and reached in her pocket, pulling out a velvet box and getting down on one knee behind the blonde. All the blonde had to do was turn around, and Emily’s heart pounded in her ears as the seconds felt like hours. Part of her wanted to start talking, but the words wouldn’t come out, so instead she just mentally willed Jennifer to turn around. 

And it seemed that her mental willing had worked. The blonde got impatient waiting for Emily to join her, and when she turned on her heel to call out she looked down to see her girlfriend on her knee. A gasp parted her lips and she brought her hand up to her mouth, tears begging to prick at those electric blue eyes of hers.

Emily froze for a moment before her body kicked into autopilot, “Every day I find myself falling more and more in love with you, and I want that feeling for the rest of my life. There are a lot of things in this life that I’m not sure of, but there is one thing that I know is for sure, and that is that I love you. And I’m not as good with words as I like to think I am, so I am just going to cut to the chase,” she paused and drew in a sharp breath, “Jennifer Jareau, will you marry me?

There was a pause, JJ still had her right hand over her mouth and her left was resting ever so gently on her collar bones. Apparently her silence had taken a moment too long because Emily was speaking again, “I love you so much but can I please get an answer so I can get off my knee? These rocks hurt.” Though Emily would have stayed on her knee on those rocks for eternity if it meant the possibility of hearing Jennifer Jareau agree to marry her.

“Oh my God,” her girlfriend laughed slightly and wiped a tear away from her eyes, “yes, a thousand times yes,” the blonde pulled Emily up and held onto her tightly, pressing her lips onto hers for a moment before burying her face into the brunette’s neck. Emily let out a breath she wasn’t aware she had been holding, everything seeming to move in slow motion as she wrapped her arms around JJ. When they parted she placed the ring on the blonde’s left hand, watching as her smile grew at the action. She shot a grateful glance to the young woman who had been so kind as to capture this moment before bringing her attention back to the woman she loved.

“It’s so beautiful.”

Emily chewed slightly on the inside of her cheek, “do you really like it?”

“It’s perfect, you could have proposed to me ring pop for all I care and I would have still said yes.”

“Damn Jareau, should have told me that sooner and saved me some money,” she winked before reaching for the other woman’s hand and linking their fingers together to walk back towards their items, “we should probably start to head back. Don’t want to miss our dinner reservation.”

“Wined, dined, and proposed to all in the same day? Someone pinch me I must be dreaming.”


End file.
